‘I shared my house with 150 cats – and was told to get rid of them in two weeks’

Animal rescuer Lynea Lattanzio has been taking in cats since 1992 – and so many that she ended up having to vacate her five-bedroom California home. Now aged 76, she tells Charlotte Cripps that she’s finally ready to reclaim her life

I’ve been infatuated with cats and kittens since I was about three or four years old. It’s part of my DNA. My mother wouldn’t let me have one at our family home in Madera, California, but I did get them later on once I got married at 23. I ended up with three Abyssinians and a mutt cat. When I got divorced at 30, and moved to a five-bedroom property in Parlier in Fresno County – a place out in the country and on the water – I found myself single and without kids. That’s how it started.

I brought my four cats with me to the new house. This was 1992. My dad, meanwhile, asked me to find him two kittens because his Manx cats had died, so I went to a shelter in Sanger, a small town near me – and returned home with 15 of them, all of whom needed bottle feeding. Once they were healthy, I took them back so they could be found homes. But I kept taking in more from the shelter – by the end of the year, I had rescued 96 cats and kittens. I was living with about 35 cats at any one time.

Soon, I took none back to the shelter and instead found them homes myself. I got involved in other rescues and, in 1993, I ended up with 35 extra cats living with me permanently along with my four original cats. We had five bedrooms – they were all over the place.

Animal rescuer Lynea Lattanzio with a handful of her many cats (Supplied)

I decided to go and work for a vet to learn about cat health – seeing that I had so many. It was hard; I’d have to get up at 4am to take care of the 39 cats and then get to work at 8am before returning at 1pm to be with the cats and take care of the property, which needed a lot of maintenance. I was on my own; I had absolutely no life. I did that for three years and, by 1996, I had 150 cats living with me.

In 1997, the [city council] said: “Wait a minute, you’re not zoned to have loads of cats, so you have two weeks to get rid of 150 cats.” They said I could have pigs, goats, chickens or ducks – or anything else, like an elephant – but I could not have that many cats. It was ludicrous, so I ignored it. A year or so later, they came back and by then I had 350 cats. They did an investigation into my situation.

At the time, I had a dog door in my bedroom, so as time went on some of the 350 cats figured out how to get through it and onto my bed. It got to the point where there was no room left on the bed for me. I probably had 60 cats and three dogs on my bed every night. I built a walkway all around the whole room to get the cats off the bed. But they still wanted to sleep on the bed. They would have fights and run across my face – I now have scars. The last straw was when one of them threw up into my ear. That’s when I moved out.

Cats are maligned; they are mistreated and abused, and where I live, and in most of the state of California, they don’t even take in cats to kill them. They leave them on the streets to die

There was a mobile home on the property and I’ve been living there for the last 16 years – leaving the cats my five-bedroom house to themselves. It was ridiculous, and I needed space. Finally, the health department and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) visited me after so many complaints. But they said that I was doing nothing wrong, and that my animals were being taken care of. They told everyone to leave me alone.

Today I have 12 acres of land – all cat-fenced – for over 1,000 felines. I have about 700 permanent resident cats and 300 kittens, some of which get adopted out. I also have 45 employees. We are probably the largest cat sanctuary in the world. We have rescue cats from China and the Middle East. We take cats that nobody wants – cats with emotional issues, disabilities, unfriendly or wild natures and with bad habits. Any cats that don’t get adopted, we release onto the property and then they become residents. They share the five-bed home and buildings all over the land. Everything is heated or air-conditioned. We have a senior house with a big yard and climbers and a view of the river. There are two ICUs and two huge kitten buildings including an adoption centre.

Why do I do it? Cats are maligned; they are mistreated and abused, and where I live, and in most of the state of California, they don’t even take in cats to kill them. They leave them on the streets to die. I think it is inhumane. I will do everything I can to make it better for their lives: what we do is low-cost spays and neuters. Nobody wants cats, so we have to fix them and stop them breeding. My goal is to stop the problem; that’s my passion.

Lynea at home (Supplied)

My staff get up and feed the cats between 4am and 6am. I have about 100 cats around my mobile home that I feed myself. I always have about 30 cats following me wherever I go. I’m particularly close to lots of them – the ones that are around me that I like, I will keep an eye on and check on them. If I don’t see them, I ask where they are. Some cats have great personalities. Some of them you could do without.

Of course, people think I’m totally mad; I tell them I’m eccentric and masochistic. The cats have interfered with my life – but no more. Recently my partner David and I have started taking trips. It’s the first time I’ve broken away from the cats since 1992. Previously I’d never travelled anywhere. We’re also about to move across the street together with his three cats and my Bengal called Ringo. I’m just trying to find a life for myself. I’m almost 76. I’ve not ever done anything for me in 33 years. It’s time – that’s for sure.

Read more about Lynea’s work at The Cat House on the Kings